IMAGINE you were sailing across the biggest ocean in the world, the Pacific. You would expect crystal-clear blue waters, no land in sight and no sign of humans, right? You don't expect your boat to have to force its way through floating rubbish as far as the eye can see, but this is what happened to Captain Charles Moore whilst on a sailing race in 1999. It took him and his crew over a week to sail out of the floating junk yard full of plastic bottles, bottle caps, wrappers, bags, flip-flops and more.

Captain Moore had discovered "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch"! What we have learnt about it since then is quite scary. The rubbish is spread over 1.5 million square kilometres. That's around twice the size of Turkey! Scientists think that the rubbish on the surface there weighs up to 3.5 million tonnes. That's as heavy as over 19,000 blue whales - the largest animal that has ever existed on our planet! And because most of the rubbish is plastic, it can't be seen by satellites. When plastic was invented, it was made to be strong and long-lasting - this has turned out to be its greatest curse. Plastic is going to be around on our planet for thousands of years to come!

THE World Expo is a great place to showcase the best of any country, and host city Shanghai has gone a step further by making sure each country’s pavilion includes "green" features and technology to cut down carbon emissions.

Here are some features of the Expo worth noting:
- World's largest "eco-wall" - this mammoth structure is covered in solar panels, garnering energy from the sun and feeding power to the pavilions within the Expo. Shanghai boasts China's largest five megawatt solar power system, which powers up to 80 percent of the Expo's lighting.
- Over 1,000 clean-energy buses and cars powered by fuel cells and electricity transport visitors around the site. Guests are also encouraged to walk - they can save up to 10,000 tonnes of fuel and cut greenhouse gas emissions by about 28,400 tonnes.